Yet another Gear thread- Medium format edition

[Benjamin Marks]

Just to add in 2 more cents. If you like street shooting, low light hand held stuff then Rolleis have an advantage. They are nearly silent (quieter than the ballyhoo'd Leica shutter), the shutter has very little traveling mass and the camera can be braced by stepping on a string attached to the bottom of the camera and pulling up, or wearing a neck strap and pulling down. Hassie 500 series' shutter and mirror make a great sound, k-CLUNK, although I have seen great street photography with them. Pentax 67/Hassie: forget handholding at less than 1/60. RB67: forget handholding period -- I have found it just too heavy. Mamiya 7: very sharp, pretty quiet, but battery dependent and I just kept wanting that extra half meter of close focusing, which I could never get (and the lenses are f:4 . . . just a littttle too slow for me). Yashica-Mat = poor man's Rollei, but great image quality (shutter has a more tinny sound), Mamiya C300 = bargain basement prices now, interchangeable lenses, and a certain inherent macro ability that the Rolleis lack.

Choices choices.

One more thing; You can always shoot 6x4.5 on a Hassie (just get the right back), but you can't shoot a square negative on a 6x4.5 camera.

Have fun.

Ben

P.S. I don't mind hand metering and have a 500C and a 501 CM. Mine have been rock solid. I bought the 500C with a chrome 80 lens used in 1992 and it has never given me a problem. Disagree that you can't do portraits with the 80; you just wouldn't want to fill the frame with someone's head. Prices are sooo attractive on these beasts . . . now if I could just guarantee the availability of film...

 

[MRohlfing]

So I assume that it isn't a good camera to choose if you plan on doing hours long exposures with a cable release?

In that case you should use the lever on the lens, which is in fact a 'T'-setting and does not use battery power!

 

[historicist]

I own a 2.8F and have owned a 500c. I would say the Planar on the Rollei is marginally better than that on the Hasselblad, the Hasselblad focussing screen is a bit better, not a big deal either way.

I'd rather a Rollei because I'm not really into different focal lengths, but you can't go wrong either way.

I sold my 500c because for 6x6 SLR I've got a SL66 which is much better thought out in all ways apart from size.

btw, the Seagull is a joke in comparison to a Rollei, not even in the same ballpark quality wise. I say that not to diss the seagull, but to say that if you have tried a Seaugull and a Hasselblad, there's a lot more difference between them than between a Rollei and a Hasselblad.

On a budget, a Yashica Mat 124G comes very close to a Rollei for a lot less money, although the focussing screen (which makes a big difference on a TLR) is not as nice and it feels a bit more agricultural, noisier wind etc. The lens quality is very similar though.

I'd also avoid the 3.5T if you go for a Rollei, the aperture and shutter speeds are linked in a way that's very annoying (at least try it before you buy, I personally hated it).